When prestigious motorsports company, Prodrive wanted 4 large service tents for the Dakar Rally, they chose Inflatable Structures to provide the solution. The tents needed to be large enough to hold the two specialist desert racing cars and provide space to service and repair the vehicles and store the tools and spare parts that would be needed.
The tents also needed to be fast to erect and just as quick to take down, as well as compact enough, when deflated, to transport in the heavily loaded service trucks to the next stage of the rally. Specialist lighting and reflective floors had to be provided to be able to work on the vehicles in the pitch-black nights of the Arabian desert. Finally, the tents required accurate branding in the colours of the sponsor.
Our solution was 4 interlinked Axion 77 Square inflatable event tents. These would have special side walls with vented windows fitted with built in curtains that could be closed in the event of a sandstorm. 24V LED lighting was fitted at both low level for servicing under the vehicles as well as overhead to provide general illumination. The tents were fitted with durable reflective flooring and designed to be secured with both guy ropes and ballast so that they could be used in all locations, i.e. soft desert sand, hard standing or rocky ground situations. They also had to be able to withstand the winds of a sandstorm and as all Axion tents are designed to withstand up to 100kph wind speeds, this was not a problem.
The Axion 77 inflatable service tents for the Dakar rally were supplied with electric pumps that would work off the 230V AC generator and these enable rapid setup. Of course, once the tents are inflated the pumps are no longer required (as the air chambers are sealed) and so continuously running and noisy fans are not required as with other brands of inflatable tent.
We are the sole UK suppliers for the Axion range of event tents which comprises 7 different designs and a range of sizes from 11m2 to 125 m2 of floor space. Contact us for free and helpful advice for your event structure needs, we would be pleased to hear from you.
